Portland Police Chief Mike Reese today told Officer Ronald Frashour he was being fired for his use of deadly force against Aaron C. Campbell on Jan. 29.

Frashour shot Campbell in the back with an AR-15 rifle after other officers talked him into walking out of a Northeast Portland apartment building. He was walking back with his hands behind his head. Police said he ignored commands to put his hands up, and Officer Ryan Lewton shot him with beanbag rounds before Frashour's lethal shot.

The chief also gave Lewton and Sgts. Liani Reyna and Sgt. John Birkinbine, 80-hour unpaid suspensions.

"I have decided the use of force and less lethal force were out of the Bureau's policy,'' Reese said, in a prepared statement. "My decision was based on the significant policy violations and performance issues that occurred during this incident.''

Reese said he made the decisions with Mayor Sam Adams, and called it a difficult one.

"This was a difficult decision because ultimately, I believe each Bureau member involved was attempting to do their best to resolve a complex situation. However, as Chief, I must address the significant issues that were brought forth in the Bureau's internal reviews and hold the involved members accountable.''

The chief and mayor found the use of force was inappropriate, and there was a serious breakdown in communication between police supervisors at the scene monitoring negotiator's phone contact with Campbell and the officers standing ready with guns drawn.

"Because of these communciation failures, there was not a shared situational awareness and the officers on the custody team who used lethal and less lethal force indicate that they were surprised by both events (the children coming out and Campbell coming out of the apartment) and interpreted Campbell's actions negatively, instead of positively,'' according to Sgt. Birkinbine's disciplinary letter signed by the chief and mayor.

Mayor Sam Adams said he took the review seriously, and had the
benefit of working for former police commissioner Mayor Vera Katz.

“The
investigation and review found no evidence of malicious intent,’’ Adams
said. “But it did document actions were made outside of training and
outside of policy.’’

Adams said the men and women of the
Portland Police Bureau have a very difficult job and work hard to do
their jobs based on their training and bureau policy.

“But this shows we didn’t get it right, and someone died as a result of that,’’ the mayor said.

On behalf of Aaron Campbell's family, lawyers who have filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the city stemming from Campbell's shooting released this statement: "The family sincerely appreciates the interest the public and press
have shown in the circumstances surrounding Aaron's death. Justice will take
its course. Beyond that, we don't wish to make any public comment at this
time."

The bureau today released the internal affairs investigative documents, the training division review, the commander's findings and recommendations, and a memo from members of the Use of Force Review Board.

When the chief and mayor first had recommended Frashour's firing in late August, the Portland police union called it a "dangerous precedent.'' Today, Officer Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association, argued that the chief and mayor "have ignored the truth and the facts," and did not allow input from the bureau's lead patrol tactics and firearms instructors, or other officers who believed Campbell had a gun at the scene.

"Today, we can say that the rank and file of the Portland Police Bureau have lost faith in their leaders,'' Turner said, in a prepared statement. "No one - not the community, not the City, not the Police Bureau, and not even Mayor Adams and Chief Reese - will ultimately benefit from the imposition of baseless disciplinary action.''

In firing Frashour, Reese is following the recommendation of a Use of Force Review Board, a panel of police and citizens that examined the police internal investigation, the training division's analysis and commander's findings.

Aaron Campbell

North Precinct Cmdr. Jim Ferraris wrote that Frashour should not have viewed Campbell as a threat when he fired an AR-15 rifle at Campbell's back. Campbell had been shot numerous times by beanbag rounds while walking backward out of the Sandy Terrace apartment complex.

The incident started when Campbell, 25, was at his girlfriend's apartment, distraught over the death that morning of his brother. His girlfriend's aunt called police, telling them that Campbell was armed and suicidal. Police made contact with Campbell through phone and text messages and got him to emerge from the unit, walking backward toward police with his hands on his head.

The review board found that Lewton, who fired six beanbag rounds at Campbell, acted outside policy with his first two rounds because Campbell was not "physically aggressive." Lewton told investigators that Campbell, who had his hands locked behind his head, was not following orders to put his hands up and that Lewton shot him with the beanbag to gain compliance.

Campbell's family has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the police.

Despite the police union’s objection to the firing and serious suspensions and likely challenge through arbitration, Adams says he’s confident the discipline will hold up.

“In this case, there was near unanimous agreement that these disciplines were warranted,’’ Adams said, noting the agreement of the police commander, and members of the bureau’s Use of Force Review Board.

The discipline marks the second time the bureau has fired an officer for
their use of force.

The last firing stemming from a Portland police
shooting was for Lt. Jeffrey Kaer's "poor judgement and decision-making"
leading up to his Jan. 4, 2006 fatal shooting of Dennis L. Young, but
it was later overturned by an arbitrator and Kaer returned to work.

But the last Portland Officer fired for his use of force was Douglas Erickson. On July 19, 1993, he had reportedly fired 23 of 27 shots fired at Gerald Frank Gratton as he fled from
a bus in North Portland. The bus driver had complained that Gratton and
his brother were acting unruly.
He was struck by the bullets in the back and the arm, and a bullet
grazed his head; he survived. Gratton, an African-American, had a gun in
his waistband, but did not pull the gun or use it during the incident.

Then Chief Charles Moose dismissed Erickson, finding he had broken department rules because Gratton was not endangering anyone when Erickson opened fire. But two years later, Erickson was reinstated by an arbitrator, who found Erickson justified because the suspect had a gun and was acting in a threatening manner, even though Gratton was shot while running away and never shot the gun in his waistband.